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Rock Valley Bee from Rock Valley, Iowa • Page 17

Publication:
Rock Valley Beei
Location:
Rock Valley, Iowa
Issue Date:
Page:
17
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

I October Porkfest Syd Grossenburg In His Operation, Hogs Have To Pay The Bills At the Syd Grossenburg farm two miles southwest of Rock Valley, hogs have been the name of the game for a long time. Syd's grandfather, who came to the Rock Valley area from Wisconsin and purchased the farm in 1913, started in the hog business around 1940. Syd's father purchased the- 160- acre place in 1942 and then Syd followed in 1963, both of them depending on. their hog operation for a livelihood. Like others, Grossenburg, 39, has been involved in an expansion program in the past few years.

He added a 50-unit. farrowing house in 1970 and has also installed an eight-stall finishing unit that allows him to feed about 480 head at a time. Farrowing about 200 sows yearly, Grossenburg prefers to market about 1000 pigs each year and sell the balance of the pigs he raises' (another 1500 head) as feeders. "The advantage of selling feeders is simply that it gives me two ways of going," Grossenburg explains. "I only farm a quarter, and so selling the feeders helps me to avoid having to buy so much grain.

Selling half of 'my young pigs just seems like a better investment to me; otherwise, of course, I'd have to enlarge my finishing unit, which would involve a sizeable expense." Why did he decide to get into hog production in the way he has? Grossenburg answers that one quickly. "We don't have any 150 bushel an acre corn production through here; in fact, 75 bushels is considered good. When corn was running around a dollar a bushel, a grain farmer just couldn't make it--he had to make it on the yard." Things have changed in recent years, both with respect to the price of corn and hogs. Grossenburg readily acknowledges that the hog market's "been awfully good; frankly, I don't remember anything like $64 hogs." But he does have a good memory and he knows how quickly things can change. "I remember 1963 when we were getting.

$28 for an entire hog, and 1 also recall years like 1970 when the market was terrific in August and by November, the bottom had dropped out." Grossenburg, however, remains pretty optimistic when he talks about the current hog outlook. "The way it sounds-the futures, for example-I dorf't see signs of a weakening market. Feed dealers report selling more creep feed, and that sug- gests there are more pigs being farrowed right now. But 1 feel the market will probably stay pretty good until summer; another ten months, though, could bring a wholly different picture." He insists that even with $64 cwt. hog prices, it isn't all that easy.

"The hogs 1 raise and market have to do a lot of things. They have to replace equipment, and everyone needs to recall that a tractor that cost $7,000 in 1965 now costs over $25,000. My hogs also have to pay virtually all my family's bills-our clothes, food, and interest expenses, for example. As a result of being in hog production, you must remember, we have no corn to sell. Our income has to come through the price of pur hogs." The market price is not the only risk, either, says Grossenburg.

"There's also the constant battle with disease. In the back of every hog producer's mind, there is the fear that someday he' 11 walk out to his farrowing unit and find his baby pigs have serious disease problems. When your luck runs out, it' a tough business." Grossenburg and his wife, Marie, have three children; they are Brett, 11; Brian, 11; and Jean Marie, 4. Supplement to the ROCK VALLEY BEE Salute County PORK PRODUCERS Pork Production Is Important to Our Economy.

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About Rock Valley Bee Archive

Pages Available:
5,596
Years Available:
1897-1975